In 2011-12 the estimate of expenditure on cultural activities, funded by the state and territory governments, was $3,277.0m. This was an increase of $212.6m from 2010-11, made up of a $114.1m increase in Heritage and a $98.5m rise in Arts expenditure respectively.

Individual state and territory government's expenditure on cultural activities closely reflected population size, with the more populous states of New South Wales ($817.6m), Victoria ($639.8m), Queensland ($608.2m) and Western Australia ($614.4m) spending more funds in 2011-12 than South Australia ($262.1m), Tasmania ($130.0m), the Australian Capital Territory ($117.0m), and the Northern Territory ($87.9m).

STATE AND TERRITORY GOVERNMENT TOTAL CULTURAL EXPENDITURE(a) - 2011-12